Change
by LoMaRiBa
Summary: Complete Jim has a...slight...phobia. PG only for some language.


Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. :(

Thanks to my betas, Tai and DoggyJ. They did a great job and any remaining mistakes are mine!

Change

**Tuesday: Cascade PD Bullpen-Major Crimes**

"Yeah, man, Ellison. I tell you, he's afraid of change!"

"I don't believe you," Rafe's voice answered Henri Brown. "Big, tough Jim Ellison is afraid of change?" Rafe shook his head. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"I'm tellin' ya, he is. I saw it myself just last night! We were at Wonderburger and..." H stopped his story and looked around. "Huh, thought I heard something."

Rafe did a quick turn around and didn't see anything either, "Well, I didn't hear anything; get on with your story!"

H paused a bit longer but continued despite his worries there was someone listening in on the conversation.

Around the corner, however, Blair Sandburg, police observer and grad student extraordinaire, hugged the wall to minimize his presence. He couldn't believe that Henri was making that kind of accusation! Jim Ellison was not afraid of change; no way, no how! He heard H start again and wanted to hear what he said to back up his accusation.

"...he was pissed because Wonderburger had taken his favorite burger combo and switched it to the fish sandwich. He grumbled for an hour over that one!" H continued.

Blair couldn't understand how H could justify that Jim was afraid of change just from not being happy about having his favorite burger taken off the menu. He tuned back in to the conversation, having missed a few minutes of H's rambling with his internal debate on whether or not to interrupt his fellow workers.

"Then two weeks ago, we were picking up the dry cleaning for Simon. Jim had tagged along because Blair had the truck for the afternoon and Jim wanted to pick up his suit. The cleaners have changed ownership lately and Jim..." H continued but Blair didn't hear what he said after that because his partner clasped him on his shoulder.

"Argh!" Blair whipped around. "What the hell?! Jim! Don't do that to me, man!"

Jim Ellison just stood there grinning at his friend. "Chief, that's what you get for listening in to other people's conversations."

Blair quickly asked, "You heard what H was saying?"

"Naw, just something about me and him picking up Simon's dry cleaning. But you know what happens to people who eavesdrop!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Blair decided to drop the subject. He'd keep an eye out on his sentinel and see if he really did fear change. It might be a new part of his dissertation! The modern sentinel still retaining ancient ideas and territorial patterns. The rapidly changing lifestyle of the modern city might be affecting his throwback partner. The jungle was much different than the city and while it changed, it was a gradual, not drastic, change. 'Hmm...' Blair thought as he and Jim walked together towards the parking garage, 'I might just have to test this out.'

**Wednesday: The Loft**

Blair moved one of his artifacts from his room to the coffee table. "Jim, do you mind if I move my Peruvian offering plate to the coffee table? I put away the artifact from Uganda that you always make fun of."

"What? Chief, you didn't have to put that away. It's your place too."

Blair's face lit up in a smile. "Thanks, Jim! I know you've been really good about letting me stay. And I'm not moving it just because you don't like it. I just thought it was time for a change. I have so many that I don't display that I like switching them out every once in a while. Change is good, you know?"

"Sure, maybe you can switch out this ugly thing, too, then!" Jim tossed Blair his backpack that once again had been left to lay in the middle of the floor as Blair had stormed into the loft.

"Hey!" Blair started a normal fight with Jim about his cleaning habits. He was glad to see that H was wrong. But just in case...he'd see where Jim wanted to go for supper that night.

**Wednesday: Earl's Veggie House of Steak**

"Come on, Jim. I've heard it's the better than the real thing!"

"Absolutely not, Sandburg. You promised me steak and I'm getting steak!" Jim was a trifle upset at his partner.

"But, Jim..." Blair whined, "you'll really like it! I promise!" Blair then went into a several minute spiel on how healthy the Veggie House was and how Jim wouldn't notice the difference. As his closing speech, he concluded, "And I'll even pay for it!"

"Deal," Jim said, taking Blair by the arm and frog marching him into the restaurant. He was hungry and if that meant he had to eat fake meat, he'd do it. Blair was acting weird anyway. Maybe it was the lack of vegetables and this visit would fix it. Either way, Wonderburger was on the way home. If the food was unpalatable, all Jim had to do was stop by the drive through.

Blair didn't protest his movement towards the restaurant. 'See,' he thought, 'Jim so doesn't mind change!'

**Thursday Afternoon: Appie's Quick-E Shop**

Blair Sandburg saw his roommate, partner and best friend shudder as he reached out his hand towards the stranger standing behind the counter. He narrowed his eyes as Jim's hand shook almost imperceptibly. Jim reluctantly took what he was offered and quickly stuck it in his pocket. He turned and at the same time, brought his hand around and wiped it several times along his pant leg. Without stopping, he pushed his way outside and almost ran to the car.

Blair followed.

Jim grabbed the keys with the hand not compulsively wiping on his leg out of his pant's pocket. He opened the door on the passenger's side and reached into the glove compartment. Jim pulled out the box of baby wipes and quickly wiped both hands with the tissue. He almost frantically rubbed the thick wipes on and around his hands, focusing on one in particular.

Blair stared at the unusual behavior by his friend, his sentinel. 'My Gaia! Jim's going insane!' he thought to himself. "Um, Jim?" he started hesitantly, not wanting to upset the man that was trained to kill with a paperclip, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Jim looked puzzled at Blair's question. He wasn't doing anything that he hadn't done hundreds of times before.

"Jim, you just gave that poor cashier a glare that's worthy of Simon. She's still trying to figure out what she did to upset you. Then you run out here to the truck just to grab _baby wipes!_ This is NOT normal activity."

Jim rolled his eyes. "Chief, do you know how many germs are on those things? Where they've been?" He waited long enough to see Blair's head shake. "No. But I do. I can _feel_ the grime and _smell_ where they've been. At least one of the pennies I just got had been dumped in excrement. One of the nickels smelled like the drug den it rolled out of..."

Blair's face lit up in true ecstasy. He knew Jim's abilities were amazing, but this...with just one touch, just one whiff of the change in his hand, Jim had managed to detect more toxins and other substances than he had willingly done in the last case they had worked together! "Jim," he started excitedly, "do you..."

Jim cut him off. "Oh, no you don't, Chief. Leave my senses out of this."

Blair sighed, but decided not to argue with Jim. This time. "Fine. But that's a copout. One day we WILL discuss this."

Jim suppressed a sigh. He hated to talk about his senses and didn't know why Blair wanted to so badly. So he could smell a few things. Who cares? He knew that he had to change the subject or Blair wouldn't let this drop. He decided to bring it back to where he had stopped before. "So I don't see what the problem is with me cleaning my hands after touching those...things. I'd hope you would too."

"But, Jim. I've never seen you do that before! And we've been partners for how long now?"

Jim grunted. "I try not to. I use my credit card or check book or have them donate the change to the humane society." He paused to consider his next words. "It's rather easy to avoid touching real cash these days. Almost every store takes plastic nowadays and if they don't, they're willing to take a local check." He shrugged. "No need for me to carry around cash."

Blair just stared at Jim in wonder. His friend had effectively managed to hide a potentially life altering phobia from the world. Five years ago, even, and he wouldn't have been able to cover it up, but with society's switch from cash to credit cards, Jim was able to maneuver around his obsessive washing after handling coins.

He had to ask though, "When did this start?"

"What?" Jim was honestly confused.

"When did change really start bothering you?"

"Mmm, just about the time the senses came online. I noticed every time I got some, that most of it was contaminated. After a while, I did anything I could to stay away from it." He shrugged. "It hasn't been too hard. Credit cards help. I use my checkbook a lot. I get by. When I have to, I try to wash my hands immediately. I keep the wipes in the glove compartment." As if the mention of the wipes reminded Jim that they were still out in the open, he returned the box to their original home. He pushed past Blair, who had at one point crowded in the open space left between the car and the door and walked around to the front of the truck. "Get in, Chief. We still have interviews to do today."

Blair got in the truck. He'd let the topic drop but would keep an eye out on his friend. If it got too bad or transferred to another item, he'd pursue the issue of Jim's phobia. But, at the moment, he couldn't blame his friend for not wanting to touch something that had, in all likelihood, been touched by hundreds of germ infested hands. Blair shivered. Ew! Maybe he'd try to avoid change as well...


End file.
